


Tough Man's Façade

by whattheheckdidyoudo



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Richie thinks he needs to be a tough guy, toxic masculinity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 17:05:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12462126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whattheheckdidyoudo/pseuds/whattheheckdidyoudo
Summary: Richie is supposed to be cool and tough, but PTSD has other plans.





	Tough Man's Façade

**Author's Note:**

> I already posted this on my Tumblr (norskinuggets), but thought I'd post it here as well since I liked it.

Richie would never admit that It still scared him two years later. Every time he saw a clown, he would feel his heart stop and his brain go numb. Sometimes, he'd yell at the poor guy in the suit and face paint. Sometimes, he would cower in fear. Whatever he did, he would never admit to the other Losers that he was scared. 

He distracted himself by comforting Eddie whenever the poor boy would get spooked. He would pull Eddie into his empty home, wrap him up in blankets, and put on cartoons. If Eddie was particularly scared, he would pepper kisses on his freckles (and tears) until Eddie laughed, exclaiming, "That tickles, Richie!" 

Richie convinced himself that he was strong. It didn’t matter that his mother didn’t come home until eight in the night, usually a bit tipsy and unable to take care of him. It didn’t matter that he cooked meals for himself, and cleaned up the whole house whenever his mother would make a mess of it. It didn’t matter that his dreams all left him terrified that Eddie was hurt or dead. None of it mattered. He had to keep strong for Eddie. 

Eddie, on the other hand, saw through this thin veil. He saw the way Richie's face contorted when he saw a clown. He saw the way Richie's face dropped when he entered the empty house, and he could hear the sadness in Richie's voice when they'd talk over the phone. 

Eddie decided to confront his boyfriend on it. 

One day, after school, while the boys were playing on Richie's beat up NES, Eddie spoke up. 

"Are you alright?" Eddie asked. 

"What do you mean, Eds? Do I look sick? Do I need an appointment with Doc Kaspbrak?" He playfully flirted while he focused on the game. 

"I mean, it's just that... Well, you..." Eddie rewrote his sentence in his head a few times. "Quit it with the tough guy façade." 

That hit a nerve with Richie. He paused the game in front of him and took a gulp. 

"It's not a façade, it's just that we can't have two wimps in a relationship, huh?" Richie joked and elbowed Eddie. "Gotta put on some pants every once in a while." 

"No, you don’t." Eddie said. "You can be weak." 

"What?" Richie had never heard anything like this out of another boy's mouth. 

"You can be hurt, and you can be sad. Most of all, you can be scared." Eddie didn’t break eye contact even when he usually would be looking all around the room except Richie during an important conversation. "It's okay, Rich." 

The floodgates finally opened. Richie immediately started sniffing and tears started running down his face. He went to cover his face with his hands, but Eddie moved them. 

"It's alright, Richie." Eddie kissed Richie's forehead and squeezed his hands. "Get it out. It's alright." He repeated these phrases like a mantra until Richie started to calm down. 

Richie's mouth went at 100 mph even when he was crying. He would constantly ramble incomprehensable sentences about his nightmares, or yell in anger when he recalled how his mom didn’t seem to care about him. 

"This sucks." Richie sniffed and laughed a bit. "Why do you cry so much? It's awful." 

"Yeah, it feels that way in the moment, but it gets better. My doctor told me that stress hormones from your blood actually come out in your tears, so it's scie-" Eddie was cut off from a kiss from his boyfriend. 

"Does your doctor tell you that he loves you?" Richie smirked behind his now foggy glasses. 

"Jesus, I would hope not. The man is seventy." Eddie and Richie laughed. 

After a few minutes of just being in each other's arms, Richie spoke up again. 

"I do love you." He said quietly. 

"You've been telling me that since we were kids." Eddie smiled. 

"Yeah, but I didn’t kiss you when we were kids." Richie retorted. 

"Actually, yo-" 

"Eddie, I'm trying to be the sweet and sensitive lover boy you want right now. Help me out here." Richie groaned. 

"Alright, alright." Eddie laughed. "I love you too, Richie." 

Richie spent the rest of the evening kissing his dumb boyfriend with those huge love-struck puppy eyes he couldn’t help but adore. 

Eddie spent the rest of his night with Richie's chapped lips all over him, trying to kiss away their fears. 

And, when they went to bed that night, neither of them had nightmares. They just held each other in the cool breeze of a summer night.


End file.
